Google’s AdSense for Shopping Takes PLAs to Retail Sites

Google announced it has launched AdSense for Shopping, a product it says will help retailers like Walmart.com monetize site traffic.

According to Google, by opting Shopping Campaigns into Google’s search partners, these retailers can now reach users as they search for products on retail and commerce sites in the Google Search Network.

That’s because AdSense for Shopping allows retailers to place Product Listing Ads, like those they see running on google.com, onto their websites. Similar to other AdSense products, they earn revenue based on the performance of those ads on their sites, Google says in the AdSense help forum.

Google uses the example of a retailer selling tailgating grills on Google Shopping. Users that search for tailgating grills on retail partners’ sites may now see Product Listing Ads from the initial retailer.

Further, AdSense for Shopping provides an easy path to purchase for users searching for products on “high-quality retail-oriented websites and an additional high-margin revenue stream for retailers that allow these units on their sites,” Google says.

As of September 9, the product is available to a limited set of retail and commerce publishers but Google says it plans to open AdSense for Shopping up to interested publishers in the “near future.”

Aside from Walmart.com, which is mentioned in the blog post, a Google rep says the search engine is “not sharing other participants right now.”

According to Google, advantages to publishers include helping users find what they want, encouraging repeat site visits, showing rich product ads that are contextually relevant to the users visiting a website and monetizing mobile site traffic.

“As we release the product to more publishers, we expect advertisers with Product Listing Ads opted into search partners to see increased traffic to their sites,” writes Jesse Adkins, product manager of Google Search Ads, in the blog post.